My First Steps Into the Wild

After getting in touch with the volunteer coordinator and scheduling a time, I was finally able to go to Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge and volunteer for the first time! I am so thankful that I was able to visit and help such an amazing organization. After reading and researching some of their background, I thought I had an idea of what to expect, but Wolf Run was completely different from what I thought that it would be like! It was much larger, with many more animals than I expected. I expected a large, corporate-type business, but instead was met with the homey comfort of a caring staff and devoted owner. Every person who was at Wolf Run wanted to be there. The level of care and compassion in these volunteers and staff members is beyond that of many other organizations. Because Wolf Run is non-profit, none of these staff receive payment for their services. It relies solely on volunteers, making these people extremely important to the organization.

The entire blogging staff of Into the Wild at Wolf Run visited the Refuge together, many of us for the first time. The first thing that we did when we got there was go on a tour of the entire property. We were introduced to all of the animals! There were bobcats and wolf-dogs and deer (Oh My!), along with raccoons, cats, coyotes, and a very mischievous goat. I even got to pet, play with, and snuggle some of the wolf-dogs, which really helped me to get the animal fix I have been missing. After we all got a chance to love on some of these wonderful animals, it was time to get down and dirty…literally.

Wolf-dogs playing in the yearling enclosure.

We were tasked with the glamorous job of cleaning out “The Monkey Shed,” deemed such as it used to hold rescued monkeys. Nowadays it is what looks like the food storage shed of a monkey enthusiast. Completely decorated with monkey décor, the shed was crawling with spiders. They infested every corner, and terrifyingly enough were even falling from the ceiling. We removed everything from the shed, wiped and hosed it off, and sprayed out the inside of the shed. I even had the brown-tinged tile looking white again…that is until everyone had to move everything back inside in their muddy boots. By the time we were finished, the shed looked like a place that someone could run the business out of rather than a monkey fanatics feed shed and secret hoarding stash. While I am sure that we all would have preferred to stay and love on the animals for our entire visit, we really made a difference at Wolf Run that day. Every time that the staff needs to go into the shed, they can get what they need more easily with the newly organized and cleaned environment. This seemingly small action will impact the everyday lives of the volunteers, allowing them to give the animals the best care possible.